Liiketoimintatiedon merkitys ja -hallinta yritysjohdon päätöksenteon tukena, case: kunnallinen energiayhtiö

Yritykset toimivat yhä enemmän dynaamisessa ja jatkuvasti muuttuvassa yritysympäristössä, joka asettaa erittäin suuria haasteita yritysjohdolle, tilanteet ovat yhä vaikeammin ennustettavissa ja päätöksenteosta on tullut entistä haasteellisempaa. Nykypäivän kilpailuympäristössä yritykset hakevat kilpailuetua tiedon avulla. Yritysten käytettävissä olevan tiedon määrä on jatkuvassa kasvussa ja oleellisen tiedon erottaminen epäoleellisesta on yhä vaativampaa. Yritystä on vaikea johtaa tehokkaasti, jos yrityksessä ei ole käytössä oikeanlaista tietoa oikeaan aikaan oikeilla ihmisillä. Työn tavoitteena oli tutkia sitä, että millaista informaatiota ja tietoa tulisi kohdeyrityksen johdolla olla nykyhetkellä yrityksen toiminnan ohjaamiseen, suunnitteluun ja päätöksenteon tueksi. Tutkimusta on tarkasteltu johdon laskentatoimen näkökulmasta ja työssä on keskitytty teorian ja empirian pohjalta kohdeyrityksen johdon strategisen päätöksenteon pohjalla olevan oleellisen liiketoimintatiedon kartoittamiseen ja sen hallintaan. Yritysten toimiessa informaatioähky yhteiskunnassa, liiketoimintatiedon hallinnalla voidaan saavuttaa merkittävää kilpailuetua. Liiketoimintatiedon hallinta on käytäntöjä, toimintoja ja prosesseja, joilla yrityksen tärkeää liiketoimintatietoa hankitaan, jalostetaan ja jaetaan sekä liiketoiminnan johtamista että päätöksentekoa varten. Liiketoimintatiedon hallinnan yhtenä tietolähteenä toimii yrityksen sisäinen tietopääoma, joka tehokkaasti yhdisteltynä yrityksen ulkopuoliseen tietoon mahdollistaa yritysjohdolle laadukkaamman ja kokonaisvaltaisemman tiedon saamisen päätöksenteon tueksi. Tutkituissa yrityksissä käytettiin päätöksenteon tukena erittäin paljon taloudellisia tunnuslukuja, ns. kovia mittareita. Hiljaisia ja heikkoja signaaleja pidettiin myös tärkeinä, mutta ongelmana koettiin niiden havaitseminen, keruu ja raportointi. Yrityksen sisältä ja yrityksen ulkopuolelta raportoitavat tiedot tulisi jatkossa kohdistua enemmän tulevaisuuteen kuin menneisyyteen.

Saako historiasta selvää? Monikulttuuriset yläkoululaiset historian lähteillä historian taidot motiivien, seurauksien, historian tulkintojen ja lähteiden luotettavuuden arvioinneissa

The research assesses the skills of upper comprehensive school pupils in history. The focus is on locating personal motives, assessing wider reasons hidden in historical sources and evaluating source reliability. The research also questions how a wide use of multiple sources affects pupils’ holistic understanding of historical phenomena. The participants were a multicultural group of pupils. The origins of their cultures can be traced to the Balkan, the Middle East, Asia and Europe. The number of native Finnish speakers and pupils speaking Finnish as their second language was almost equal. The multicultural composition provides opportunities to assess how culturally responsive learning history from sources is. The intercultural approach to learning in a multicultural setting emphasizes equality as a precondition for learning. In order to set assignments at least to some extent match with all participants only those answers were taken into account which were produced by pupils who had studied history for a similar period of time in the Finnish comprehensive school system. Due to the small number of participants (41), the study avoids wide generalizations. Nevertheless, possible cultural blueprints in pupils’ way of thinking are noted. The first test examined the skills of pupils to find motives for emigration. The results showed that for 7th graders finding reasons is not a problematic task. However, the number of reasons noticed and justifications varied. In addition, the way the pupils explained their choices was a distinguishing factor. Some pupils interpreted source material making use of previous knowledge on the issue, while other pupils based their analysis solely on the text handed and did not try to add their own knowledge. Answers were divided into three categories: historical, explanatory and stating. Historical answers combined smoothly previously learned historical knowledge to one’s own source analysis; explanatory answers often ignored a wider frame, although they were effective when explaining e.g. historical concepts. The stating answers only noticed motives from the sources and made no attempts to explain them historically. Was the first test culturally responsive? All pupils representing different cultures tackled the first source exam successfully, but there were some signs of how historical concepts are understood in a slightly different way if the pupil’s personal history has no linkage to the concepts under scrutiny. The second test focused on the history of Native Americans. The test first required pupils to recognize whether short source extracts (5) were written by Indians or Caucasians. Based on what they had already learned from North American history, the pupils did not find it hard to distinguish between the sources. The analysis of multiphase causes and consequences of the disputes between Native Americans and white Americans caused dispersion among pupils. Using two historical sources and combining historical knowledge from both of them simultaneously was cumbersome for many. The explanations of consequences can be divided into two groups: the ones emphasizing short term consequences and those placing emphasis on long term consequences. The short term approach was mainly followed by boys in every group. The girls mainly paid attention to long term consequences. The result suggests that historical knowledge in sources is at least to some extent read through role and gender lenses. The third test required pupils to explain in their own words how the three sources given differed in their account of living conditions in Nazi Germany, which turned out to be demanding for many pupils. The pupils’ stronghold was rather the assessment of source reliability and accounts why the sources approached the same events differently. All participants wrote critical and justified comments on reliability and aspects that might have affected the content of the sources. The pupils felt that the main reasons that affected source reliability were the authors’ ethnic background, nationality and profession. The assessment showed that pupils were well aware that position in a historical situation has an impact on historical accounts, but in certain cases the victim’s account was seen as a historical truth. The account of events by a historian was chosen most often as the most reliable source, but it was often justified leniently with an indication to professionalism rather than with clear ideas of how historians conduct accounts based on sources. In brief, the last source test demonstrates that pupils have a strong idea that the ethnicity or nationalism determines how people explained events of the past. It is also an implication that pupils understand how historical knowledge is interpretative. The results also imply that history can be analyzed from a neutral perspective. One’s own membership in an ethnical or religious group does not automatically mean that a person’s cultural identity excludes historical explanations if something in them contradicts with his or her identity. The second method of extracting knowledge of pupils’ historical thinking was an essay analysis. The analysis shows that an analytical account of complicated political issues, which often include a great number of complicated political concepts, leads more likely to an inconsistent structure in the written work of pupils. The material also demonstrates that pupils have a strong tendency to take a critical stance when assessing history. Historical empathy in particular is shown if history somehow has a linkage to young people, children or minorities. Some topics can also awake strong feelings, especially among pupils with emigrant background, if there is a linkage between one’s own personal history and that of the school; and occasionally a student’s historical experience or thoughts replaced school history. Using sources during history lessons at school seems to have many advantages. It enhances the reasoning skills of pupils and their skills to assess the nature of historical knowledge. Thus one of the main aims and a great benefit of source work is to encourage pupils to express their own ideas and opinions. To conclude, when assessing the skills of adolescents in history - their work with sources, comments on history, historical knowledge and finally their historical thinking - one should be cautious and avoid cut off score evaluations. One purpose of pursuing history with sources is to encourage pupils to think independently, which is a useful tool for further identity construction. The idea that pupils have the right to conduct their own interpretations of history can be partially understood as part of a wider learning process, justification to study history comes from extrinsic reasons. The intrinsic reason is history itself; in order to understand history one should have a basic understanding of history as a specific domain of knowledge. Using sources does not mean that knowing history is of secondary importance. Only a balance between knowing the contextual history, understanding basic key concepts and working with sources is a solid base to improve pupils’ historical understanding.

Molecular profiling of human endometrium and endometriosis

Endometriosis is a common hormone-dependent gynecological disease leading to severe menstrual and/or chronic pelvic pain with or without subfertility. The disease is defined by the presence of endometrium-like tissue outside the uterine cavity, primarily on the pelvic peritoneum, ovaries and infiltrating organs of the peritoneal cavity. The current tools for diagnosis and treatment of endometriosis need to be improved to ensure reliable diagnosis and effective treatment. In addition, endometriosis is associated with increased risk of ovarian cancer and, therefore, the differential diagnosis between the benign and malignant ovarian cysts is of importance. The long-term objective of the present study was to support the discovery of novel tools for diagnosis and treatment of endometriosis. This was approached by exploiting genome-wide expression analysis of endometriosis specimens. A novel expression profiling -based classification of endometriosis indicated specific subgroups of lesions partially consistent with the clinical appearance, but partially according to unknown factors. The peritoneum of women with endometriosis appeared to be altered in comparison to that of healthy control subjects, suggesting a novel aspect on the pathogenesis of the disease. The evaluation of action and metabolism of sex hormones in endometrium and endometriosis tissue indicated a novel role of androgens in regulation of the tissues. In addition, an enzyme involved in androgen and neurosteroid metabolism, hydroxysteroid (17beta) dehydrogenase 6, was found to be highly up-regulated in endometriosis tissue as compared to healthy endometrium. The enzyme may have a role in the pathogenesis of endometriosis or in the endometriosis associated pain generation. Finally, a new diagnostic biomarker, HE4, was discovered distinguishing patients with ovarian endometriotic cysts from those with malignant ovarian cancer. The information acquired in this study enables deeper understanding of endometriosis and facilitates the development of improved diagnostic tools and more specific treatments of the disease

Coopetitive advantage – How firms create and appropriate value by collaborating with their competitors

Collaboration between competing firms (coopetition) has emerged as an important issue forn business practice in many industries. Extant literature has examined coopetition on many levels of analysis, but lacks clarity in distinguishing it explicitly from cooperation between noncompeting organizations. Because of this, the performance implications of coopetition from the perspective of an individual firm are still ambiguous – some research suggests positive results whereas other studies suggest detrimental outcomes. The aim in this dissertation is to narrow these gaps by exploring how firms create and appropriate value through collaboration with their competitors. The dissertation is divided into two parts. The first part comprises an overview of the relevant literature, as well as the conclusions of the whole study, and the second part includes six research publications. Both qualitative and quantitative methodologies are utilized. The results suggest that coopetition embodies the distinctive logic of value creation and appropriation from the perspective of an individual firm, and thus differs in terms of performance implications from cooperation between non-competitors. The distinction comes from the fact that competitors have somewhat similar understanding, capabilities and interest related to certain markets, which is potentially both challenging and beneficial in terms of the individual firm’s competitiveness. It appears from the findings that there are distinctive firm-external and firm-specific factors affecting the success of a coopetition strategy. This study makes three main contributions. First, on the conceptual level it shows the distinction between coopetition and cooperation between non-rivals as a collaborative inter-organizational relationship. Secondly, it sets out a framework and propositions that enhance understanding of how value is created and appropriated in coopetition from the perspective of an individual firm. Thirdly, it offers empirical evidence of how coopetition affects firms’ innovation and market performance, and identifies the focal internal and external factors involved. In general terms, the thesis adds to our knowledge of how a firm can successfully utilize a coopetition strategy in its pursuit of improved performance.

Koulutetut maahanmuuttajat työmarkkinoilla. Tutkimus korkeakoulututkinnon suorittaneiden maahanmuuttajien työllistymisestä ja työurien alusta Suomessa

Maahanmuuttajien määrä on Suomessa merkittävämmin lisääntynyt vasta 1990- ja 2000-luvuilla. Vuonna 2010 Suomessa asui lähes 170 000 ulkomaan kansalaista. Tavallisimmin Suomeen muutetaan avioliiton, paluumuuton tai pakolaisuuden vuoksi. Pieni, joskin kasvava joukko muuttaa työn tai opiskelun vuoksi. Myös kansalaisuuksien, koulutustaustojen, ammattien jne. kirjo muuttajien joukossa on suuri. Ulkomaan kansalaisten lisääntyessä Suomessa on jouduttu kohtaamaan monenlaisia maahanmuuttoon liittyviä haasteita, joista työllistymiseen liittyvät kysymykset eivät ole vähäisimpiä. Tutkimuksessa tarkastellaan lähtömaassaan korkeakoulututkinnon suorittaneiden maahanmuuttajien työllistymistä ja työuran alkua Suomessa. Tutkimuksen tarkoituksena on selvittää, miten korkeakoulutetut maahanmuuttajat ovat Suomessa työllistyneet, minkälaisia heidän työuriensa alut ovat Suomessa olleet ja miten he ovat onnistuneet uudessa maassa hyödyntämään lähtömaassa hankkimaansa koulutusta. Lisäksi tutkimuksessa tarkastellaan, miten maahanmuuttajien lähtömaan erilaiset elämäntilanteet, olosuhteet ja valinnat ovat vaikuttaneet työuran muotoutumiseen Suomessa. Tutkimuksen aineisto muodostuu kysely- sekä haastatteluaineistosta. Kyselyaineiston (n=99) tarkoituksena on luoda määrällistä kuvaa korkeakoulutettujen maahanmuuttajien työllistymisestä Suomessa. Numerotietojen taakse jää kuitenkin näkymättömiin tieto maahanmuuttajien yksilöllisistä kokemuksista liittyen työllistymiseen ja työuran muotoutumiseen uudessa maassa. Toisena aineistona hyödynnettävän elämäkerrallisen haastatteluaineiston (n=20) kautta on mahdollista tehdä näkyväksi ne tutkittavien yksilölliset työ- ja koulutusuraan liittyvät valinnat, joita maahanmuuttajat ovat tehneet niin lähtömaassa kuin Suomessa sekä ne tilanteet ja olosuhteet, joissa tutkittavat ovat lähtömaassa eläneet ja joiden pohjalta he ovat tulleet Suomeen ja Suomen työmarkkinoille. Aineistoissa mukana olevat maahanmuuttajat olivat pääosin avioliiton, paluumuuton sekä pakolaisuuden vuoksi Suomeen tulleita. Vain muutama oli tullut työn vuoksi. Maahanmuuttajien työmarkkina-asemaa selitetään usein maahanmuuttajien resursseilla, kuten kielitaidolla, koulutuksella, työkokemuksella, sosiaalisten suhteiden ja verkostojen laadulla ja määrällä jne. Myös maahanmuuttajiin kohdistuvilla syrjivillä ja ennakkoluuloisilla asenteilla on keskeinen merkitys työllistymisessä. Koulutuksen ollessa yksi keskeisimmistä työmarkkina-asemaa määräävistä tekijöistä, tulisi koulutettujen maahanmuuttajien sijoittua hankitun tutkinnon oikeuttamiin tehtäviin. Tutkimuksessa kuitenkin havaittiin, että työllistyminen oli maahanmuuttajilla vaikeaa hyvästä koulutuksesta huolimatta. Kyselyaineistoon vastanneista vain muutama (6 %) oli työssä heti Suomeen muuttovuoden lopussa, kolme vuotta Suomessa asuttuaan työssä oli runsas kolmannes (35 %) ja aineistonkeruuhetkellä eli vuonna 2004 työssä oli 38 % vastaajista. Työsuhteet olivat tutkittavilla useimmiten määräaikaisia ja kestoltaan lyhyitä. Lisäksi työurat koostuivat runsaasta työttömyydestä sekä koulutukseen osallistumisesta. Myönteistä kuitenkin oli, että mikäli korkeakoulutetut maahanmuuttajat onnistuivat Suomessa työllistymään, vastasi työ usein joko kokonaan tai ainakin osittain hankittua korkeakoulututkintoa. Korkeakoulutettujen maahanmuuttajien työuran alut Suomessa voidaan tyypitellä kolmeen ryhmään, joista kukin jakaantui vielä kahteen alaryhmään siten, että kaiken kaikkiaan saatiin kuusi erilaista työuran alun tyyppiä: koulutusta vastaava vakaa ja vakiintuva ura, koulutusta osittain vastaava sekaura ja laskeva ura sekä koulutusta vastaamaton sisääntuloura ja työttömän ura . Haastatteluaineiston kautta tarkastellaan korkeakoulutettujen maahanmuuttajien yksilöllisiä elämänuria lähtien liikkeelle korkeakoulutettujen maahanmuuttajien lähtömaassa tekemistä ura- ja ammatinvalinnoista jatkuen Suomeen muuton kautta aina työuran muotoutumiseen Suomessa. Haastatteluja toisistaan erottelevina keskeisinä teemoina olivat toisaalta pärjääminen Suomessa ja suomalaisilla työmarkkinoilla toisaalta elämän muotoutuminen lähtömaassa ja nimenomaan siellä tehdyt ura- ja ammatinvalinnat ja niihin liittyvät kokemukset ja elämäntilanteet. Näiden kriteerien pohjalta aineisto jakaantui kolmeen ryhmään, jotka nimettiin pärjääjiksi, harhailijoiksi ja sinnittelijöiksi. Pärjääjien kertomukset muotoutuivat tietyllä tavalla myönteisen kehän kautta: niin lähtömaassa tehdyt ammatinvalinnat kuin työuran muotoutuminen Suomessa tapahtuivat suhteellisen vaivattomasti. Useimmiten työt Suomessa vastasivat lähtömaassa hankittua koulutusta. Omiin uravalintoihin oltiin myöhemmin myös tyytyväisiä. Harhailijoille oman paikan löytyminen oli puolestaan hankalampaa. Leimallista tälle ryhmälle oli tietynlainen valintojen vaikeus sekä tyytymättömyys omiin aikaisemmin tehtyihin ratkaisuihin. Jotkut harmittelivat nuorena tekemiään uravalintoja niin, että päättivät Suomessa hankkia kokonaan uuden ammatin. Muutto Suomeen merkitsi useimmille ammatillisen aseman laskua. Sinnittelijät kertoivat jo lähtökohdiltaan kahteen muuhun ryhmään nähden hyvin erilaista tarinaa. Tämän ryhmän lähes koko elämä lähtömaassa oli sodan ja levottomuuksien sävyttämää. Tämä näkyi myös ammatinvalinnassa: opiskelupaikka oli saatettu valita esimerkiksi sen perusteella, missä oli milloinkin turvallista opiskella. Myös Suomeen muutto erosi kahdesta aikaisemmasta ryhmästä, sillä lähtö entisestä kotimaasta oli tapahtunut usein hyvinkin yllättäen vailla etukäteissuunnittelua tilanteiden kärjistyttyä nopeasti. Suomessa työelämään pääseminen oli kaikille sinnittelijöille vaikeaa ja haastatteluhetkellä useilla vielä hyvin alkutekijöissä. Hyväkään koulutus ei aina takaa maahanmuuttajille työtä uudessa maassa, sillä hankittua tutkintoa ja osaamista ei ole helppo siirtää maasta toiseen. Pahimmassa tapauksessa vieraassa maassa suoritettu korkeakoulututkinto voi kokonaan mitätöityä uudessa maassa ja korkeakoulututkinnon myötä hankittu osaaminen menettää täysin arvonsa. Kyse on niin yksilön kuin yhteiskunnankin resurssien tuhlaamisesta tilanteessa, jossa maassa pysyvästi asuvat koulutetut maahanmuuttajat työskentelevät tavalla tai toisella koulutustaan vastaamattomissa epävakaissa töissä, työmarkkinoiden laitamilla tai ovat kokonaan työmarkkinoiden ulkopuolella.

Composition of Hawthorn (Crataegus spp.) Fruits and Leaves and emblic Leafflower (Phyllanthus emblica) Fruits

Hawthorn (Crataegus sp.) is widely distributed in the northern hemisphere (Asia, Europe and North America). It has been used as a medicinal material and food for hundreds of years both in Europe and in China. Clinical investigations and other research suggest that extracts of hawthorn fruits and leaves have multiple health effects including hypolipidaemic, anti-atherosclerotic, hypotensive, cardioprotective and blood vessel relaxing activities. Hawthorn fruit extracts have also displayed antioxidant and radical scavenging activities. Emblic leafflower fruit (Phyllanthus emblica) is widely used in Chinese and Indian traditional medicine. It has been found to have anti-cancer, hypoglycaemic and hypolipidaemic activities as well as cardioprotective effects and antioxidant activity. The fruit is currently used as a functional food targeted at obese people in China. Phenolic compounds, procyanidins (PCs), flavonols and C-glycosyl flavones in hawthorn and hydrolysable tannins in emblic leafflower fruits are considered among the major bioactive compounds in these berries. Moreover, hawthorn and emblic leafflower fruits are rich in vitamin C, triterpenoids, fruit acids, sugar alcohols and some other components with beneficial effects on the health of human beings. The aim of the thesis work was to characterise the major phenolic compounds in hawthorn fruits and leaves and emblic leafflower fruits as well as other components contributing to the nutritional profile and sensory properties of hawthorn fruits. Differences in the content and compositional profile of the major phenolic compounds, sugars, acids and sugar alcohols within various origins and species of hawthorn were also investigated. Acids, sugars and sugar alcohols in the fruits of different origins/cultivars belonging to three species (C. pinnatifida, C. brettschneideri and C. scabrifolia) of hawthorn were analysed by gas chromatography (GC-FID) and mass spectrometry (Publication I). Citric acid, quinic acid, malic acid, fructose, glucose, sorbitol and myo-inositol were found in all the subspecies. Sucrose was present only in C. scabrifolia and three cultivars of C. pinnatifida var. major. Forty-two phenolic compounds were identified/tentatively identified in fruits of C. pinnatifida var. major by polyamide column chromatography combined with high-performance liquid chromatograph-electrospray ionisation mass spectrometry (HPLC-ESI-MS) (Publication II). Ideain, chlorogenic acid, procyanidin (PC) B2, (-)-epicatechin, hyperoside and isoquercitrin were the major phenolic components identified. In addition, 35 phenolic compounds were tentatively identified based on UV and mass spectra. Eleven major phenolic compounds (hyperoside, isoquercitrin, chlorogenic acid, ideain, (-)-epicatechin, two PC dimers, three PC trimers and a PC dimer-hexoside) were quantified in the fruits of 22 cultivars/origins of three species of Chinese hawthorn by HPLC-ESI-MS with single ion recording function (SIR) (Publication III). The fruits of the hawthorn cultivars/origins investigated fell into two groups, one rich in sugars and flavonols, the other rich in acids and procyanidins. Based on the compositional features, different biological activities and sensory properties may be expected between cultivars/origins of the two groups. The results suggest that the contents of phenolic compounds, acids, sugars and sugar alcohols may be used as chemotaxonomic information distinguishing the hawthorn species from each other. Phenolic compounds in fruits and leaves of C. grayana and their changes during fruit ripening/harvesting were investigated using HPLC-UV-ESI-MS (Publication IV). (-)-Epicatechin, PC B2 and C1, hyperoside and a quercetin-pentoside were the major phenolic compounds in both fruits and leaves. Three C-glycosyl flavones (a luteolin-C-hexoside, a methyl luteolin-C-hexoside and an apigenin-C-hexoside) were present in leaves in abundance, but only at trace levels in fruits. Ideain and 5-O-caffeoylquinic acid were found in fruits only. Additionally, eleven phenolic compounds were identified/tentatively identified in both leaves and fruits (three B-type PC trimers, two B-type PC tetramers, a quercetin-rhamnosylhexoside, a quercetin-pentoside, a methoxykaempferol-methylpentosylhexoside, a quercetin-hexoside acetate, a methoxykaempferol-pentoside, chlorogenic acid and an unknown hydroxycinnamic acid derivative). The total content of phenolic compounds reached the highest level by the end of August in fruits and by the end of September in leaves. The compositional profiles of phenolic compounds in fruits and leaves of C. grayana were different from those of C. pinnatifida, C. brettschneideri, C. scabrifolia, C. pinnatifida. var. major, C. monogyna, C. laevigata and C. pentagyna. Phenolic compounds in emblic leafflower fruits were characterised by Sephadex LH-20 column chromatography combined with HPLC-ESI-MS (Publication V). A mucic acid gallate, three isomers of mucic acid lactone gallate, a galloylglucose, gallic acid, a digalloylglucose, putranjivain A, a galloyl-HHDP-glucose, elaeocarpusin and chebulagic acid represented the major phenolic compounds in fruits of emblic leafflower. In conclusion, results of this study significantly increase the current knowledge on the key bioactive and nutritional components of hawthorn and emblic leafflower fruits. These results provide important information for research on the mechanism responsible for the health benefits of these fruits.

Conceptions of mathematics teacher education : thoughts among teacher educators in Tanzania

This study addresses the question of teacher educators’ conceptions of mathematics teacher education (MTE) in teacher colleges in Tanzania, and their thoughts on how to further develop it. The tension between exponents of content as opposed to pedagogy has continued to cause challenging conceptual differences, which also influences what teacher educators conceive as desirable in the development of this domain. This tension is connected to the dissatisfaction of parents and teachers with the failure of school mathematics. From this point of view, the overall aim was to identify and describe teacher educators’ various conceptions of MTE. Inspired by the debate among teacher educators about what the balance should be between subject matter and pedagogical knowledge, it was important to look at the theoretical faces of MTE. The theoretical background involved the review of what is visible in MTE, what is yet to be known and the challenges within the practice. This task revealed meanings, perspectives in MTE, professional development and assessment. To do this, two questions were asked, to which no clear solutions satisfactorily existed. The questions to guide the investigation were, firstly, what are teacher educators’ conceptions of MTE, and secondly, what are teacher educators’ thoughts on the development of MTE? The two questions led to the choice of phenomenography as the methodological approach. Against the guiding questions, 27 mathematics teacher educators were interviewed in relation to the first question, while 32 responded to an open-ended questionnaire regarding question two. The interview statements as well as the questionnaire responses were coded and analysed (classified). The process of classification generated patterns of qualitatively different ways of seeing MTE. The results indicate that MTE is conceived as a process of learning through investigation, fostering inspiration, an approach to learning with an emphasis on problem solving, and a focus on pedagogical knowledge and skills in the process of teaching and learning. In addition, the teaching and learning of mathematics is seen as subject didactics with a focus on subject matter and as an organized integration of subject matter, pedagogical knowledge and some school practice; and also as academic content knowledge in which assessment is inherent. The respondents also saw the need to build learner-educator relationships. Finally, they emphasized taking advantage of teacher educators’ neighbourhood learning groups, networking and collaboration as sustainable knowledge and skills sharing strategies in professional development. Regarding desirable development, teacher educators’ thoughts emphasised enhancing pedagogical knowledge and subject matter, and to be determined by them as opposed to conventional top-down seminars and workshops. This study has revealed various conceptions and thoughts about MTE based on teacher educators´ diverse history of professional development in mathematics. It has been reasonably substantiated that some teacher educators teach school mathematics in the name of MTE, hardly distinguishing between the role and purpose of the two in developing a mathematics teacher. What teacher educators conceive as MTE and what they do regarding the education of teachers of mathematics revealed variations in terms of seeing the phenomenon of interest. Within limits, desirable thoughts shed light on solutions to phobias, and in the same way low self-esteem and stigmatization call for the building of teacher educator-student teacher relationships.

Online peer to peer lending: clustering borrowers using self-organizing maps

The purpose of this thesis is to find out whether all the peer to peer lenders are unworthy of credit and also if there are single qualities or combinations of qualities that determine the probability of default of a person or group of people. Distinguishing qualities are searched with self-organizing maps (SOM). Qualities and groups of people found by the self-organizing map are then compared to the average. The comparison is carried out by looking how big proportion of borrowers meeting the criteria is two months or more behind with their payments. Research data used is collected by an Estonian peer to peer lending company during the years of 2011-2014. Data consists of peer to peer borrowers and information gathered from them.